Creston wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 14:21:
Everyone knew from day 1 that KotoR2 was going to come out for Christmas 2004. Every fan of the series knew it, every media outlet knew it, every retailer knew it, lucasarts knew it. So you can be fairly certain that Obsidian knew it too. They got too ambitious with a game that they only had 12-18 months to deliver, and a result it broke down horribly near the end.

Creston

Jerykk wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 03:26:
While Obsidian may not have strict deadlines, they do have a limited budget. If they go over-budget, they will reach a point where it simply isn't feasible to continue working on the game. At that point, they can either release it as it is, cancel it or put it on hold until they get more funding.

I have faith that they can execute on their current plans but people need to understand that even without publishers, there are still limits to how much time you can invest in any given project.

Yifes wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 02:27:

Bhruic wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 01:18:

Acleacius wrote on Oct 21, 2012, 17:12:
The difference should be obvious, they are setting the time frame and budget for their own game, not a publisher. Every time, they've had to release a game early for a publisher and they've done an insane amount of work for a small budget.

We have straight from the horse's mouth that that's not true. Kotor 2 wasn't forced to be released early, they just underestimated the amount of time and effort it would take to release the game the way they envisioned it. It was Obsidian's screw-up. There's absolutely no reason to think that them setting their own schedule and budget ensures they won't have issues. Certainly they have more experience by this point, so I hope they won't have issues, but it's possible that a year and a half from now they might find they don't have enough money to fund development. And it won't be because of a publisher.

Really? Cutting a bunch of content after a hectic 18 month schedule in order to make a Christmas release date sounds pretty forced to me. I'd love to read the interview you're referring to where Obsidian admitted that they themselves planned the December launch and not Lucasarts.

Personally, my first experience with you guys was Knights of the Old Republic 2, and I loved that game. However, it does get a lot of criticism (especially from fans who prefer the first game). A lot of people blame this on a rushed schedule. Do you think the game was rushed, and if you could change anything about the game, what would you change?

permalink

[–]Obsidian_Ent[S] 119 points 6 days ago

Chris Avellone looks back:

The issues with K2 are my fault, and no one else's. Looking back, I would have taken more care to focus on the elements of the game that mattered the most: the story and characters, and removed the mini-games, for example (those were a waste of time) and also cast away many of the cut scenes (they cost too much time to do technically, despite how much we liked them).

I also would have downscoped the cast and done what we've done on titles after that - made a smaller, more reactive cast and kept the central character pillars (Kreia, Atton, Mira, Visas Marr). I would have kept T3-M4, regardless.

Acleacius wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 00:41:

Dev wrote on Oct 21, 2012, 22:22:
They still have paypal open on their page, and for a limited time, all the kickstarter rewards are choices there too I think.

It would be great if they leave the paypal up, with rewards till they ship.

Yifes wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 02:27:

Bhruic wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 01:18:

Acleacius wrote on Oct 21, 2012, 17:12:
The difference should be obvious, they are setting the time frame and budget for their own game, not a publisher. Every time, they've had to release a game early for a publisher and they've done an insane amount of work for a small budget.

We have straight from the horse's mouth that that's not true. Kotor 2 wasn't forced to be released early, they just underestimated the amount of time and effort it would take to release the game the way they envisioned it. It was Obsidian's screw-up. There's absolutely no reason to think that them setting their own schedule and budget ensures they won't have issues. Certainly they have more experience by this point, so I hope they won't have issues, but it's possible that a year and a half from now they might find they don't have enough money to fund development. And it won't be because of a publisher.

Really? Cutting a bunch of content after a hectic 18 month schedule in order to make a Christmas release date sounds pretty forced to me. I'd love to read the interview you're referring to where Obsidian admitted that they themselves planned the December launch and not Lucasarts.

Yifes wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 02:27:
Really? Cutting a bunch of content after a hectic 18 month schedule in order to make a Christmas release date sounds pretty forced to me. I'd love to read the interview you're referring to where Obsidian admitted that they themselves planned the December launch and not Lucasarts.

Bhruic wrote on Oct 22, 2012, 01:18:

Acleacius wrote on Oct 21, 2012, 17:12:
The difference should be obvious, they are setting the time frame and budget for their own game, not a publisher. Every time, they've had to release a game early for a publisher and they've done an insane amount of work for a small budget.

We have straight from the horse's mouth that that's not true. Kotor 2 wasn't forced to be released early, they just underestimated the amount of time and effort it would take to release the game the way they envisioned it. It was Obsidian's screw-up. There's absolutely no reason to think that them setting their own schedule and budget ensures they won't have issues. Certainly they have more experience by this point, so I hope they won't have issues, but it's possible that a year and a half from now they might find they don't have enough money to fund development. And it won't be because of a publisher.

Acleacius wrote on Oct 21, 2012, 17:12:
The difference should be obvious, they are setting the time frame and budget for their own game, not a publisher. Every time, they've had to release a game early for a publisher and they've done an insane amount of work for a small budget.

Dev wrote on Oct 21, 2012, 22:22:
They still have paypal open on their page, and for a limited time, all the kickstarter rewards are choices there too I think.

MisterBenn wrote on Oct 21, 2012, 22:20:
I would love for this to reach a great conclusion but I'll wait and see the result before throwing my cash in. The staff, funding and development conditions may all be close to ideal but it's not automatic to reach a successful end product when the undertaking's this complex and far reaching. I hope they can pull it off!